Columns

Why do you run? This was a question I was asked often back in the day when my belly was smaller and my feet weren’t affected by arthritis. My simple answer was because running, like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, feels so good when you stop!

Attending the 2025 Statesmen Academy I was honored to be nominated by Nebraska Family Alliance to attend the 2025 Statesmen Academy, a five-day leadership program hosted by Family Policy Alliance Foundation. This unique opportunity is designed to equip state legislators with tools to lead effectively and faithfully in public service.

Our lives are dotted with milestones, and I was reminded of an upcoming one for me last week. I received my Medicare card in the mail.

I Don't Hear Fast... You think I don’t remember everything that’s in the past.

This past week was rooted in the agricultural innovation that drives our state forward as well as legislative action that protects our way of life. It’s a privilege to share some of the highlights from the Capitol and back home in the district.

I’ve talked about how the fungus-root network that ties all the trees in an area together functions as a communication and nutrient distribution system, but trees also communicate in other ways. With recorders that can pick up sounds too high or too low for human hearing, we have discovered that an elephant can communicate with another elephant as far away as six miles, and whales can hear other whales as far away as 4,000 miles.

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: A rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life.

Spiders have always been my nemesis, and judging from some of the memes I see on Facebook, I am far from alone! Arachnaphobia is a real thing… though I would not classify my dislike for the insects quite that severe.

One time the music that you played whenever you would jive, Was from a vinyl, big holed record called a forty- five. The record player had a post to keep them all in line, And then the records would drop down and play one at a time.